Access Bank

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Nigerian Olaide Taiwo stole 350 IDs to claim £1.3m benefits

Olaide Taiwo

A Nigerian immigrant stole the identities of 350 people to claim £1.3million in bogus tax credits in the largest benefit scam of its kind. Olaide Taiwo, 35, hijacked the identities while working as a security guard for a number of large national companies. He then used the names to claim tens of thousands in working tax credits.
This week he was jailed for eight and a half years – the highest ever sentence for tax credit fraud.

Taiwo is understood to have arrived illegally in Britain in 2003 with his wife. Although three applications to stay in the UK failed, in 2005 he was granted discretionary leave to remain.

It was during this period that his scam began. The father-of-two submitted more than 300 fraudulent tax credit claims between June 2004 and July 2008 worth over £1million.

When he was arrested, investigators found an ‘identity thieves’ paradise’, with stacks of fake passports and driving licences and £70,000 in cash lying around his council flat in Camberwell, South-East London.

The property was littered with paperwork detailing the names, addresses and national insurance numbers of hundreds of people which he had taken from employee payroll records at dozens of companies around London where he had worked as a security guard.

They also found templates for making false passports, birth certificates, NHS cards and driving licences.
Taiwo used the identities to open hundreds of bank accounts for the benefits to be paid into, but HM Revenue & Customs became suspicious about the multiple tax credit applications and arrested him in July 2008.

They believe he was the ringleader of an organised criminal network which included his sister-in-law who worked for a job centre.

But the rest of the gang are thought to have fled to Nigeria. Taiwo also tried to leave the country but he was arrested again on August 6 last year.

He was found guilty at Inner London Crown Court of fraudulently obtaining payments of tax credits, by using the names and addresses of individuals without their consent and acquiring criminal property.
Sentencing him, Judge Simon Davis ordered that he be deported at the end of his eight and a half year sentence.
He said: ‘This is a fraud on a substantial scale.
‘You lied and sought to manipulate with ease and confidence and with an arrogance that was astonishing.
‘You were intimately connected with every aspect of the fraud, stealing real details of real people to commit identity fraud on the large scale.’

Another member of the gang, Taiwo’s sister-in-law Olajumoke Ademuyiwa, 42, a Jobcentre Plus employee, was also found guilty of fraudulently obtaining tax credit payments in an earlier hearing.
Ademuyiwa opened the bank accounts into which the benefits were paid, but she is not thought to have used her role as a job centre worker to make false claims.

Her husband, Oluyemi Amidu Taiwo – Taiwo’s brother – is thought to have fled the country. She is due to be sentenced in April.

Richard Young, senior investigating officer for HMRC said: ‘This pair blatantly hijacked the identities of over 350 innocent people and stole from British taxpayers by submitting over 300 fraudulent tax credit claims between June 2004 and July 2008.
‘They deliberately attacked and abused a system designed to provide financial help to the most vulnerable people in our society.'

@Nekwepu or whatever is your name. You need to stop abusing people from other tribes simply to help your ego. I am Yoruba and majority of the cyber fraud here in the US and UK are committed by my Yoruba brothers even though many prefer to accuse Ibos of doing it. The problem with that system is that we are white washing our sins while accusing others and it will never stop until we accept this virus eating our people and help them turn away from it.These 419 boys will always say "San là ńrìn; ajé ní ḿmúni pá kọ̀rọ̀." or "ojo to ro lo pe eye le ati adiye papo".NEVER LISTEN TO 'EM-Gbenga

Only 8yrs he should have gotten like 16yrs. He is one of the reasons they refuse Nigerian Visa for no reason. Stupid man, he should be brought down to Nigeria, naked in the middle of a market and beaten after all ders kirikiri in Nigeria, cus he wuld enjoy in london prison....

Anon 9.46pm. my exact sentiments. i am sure he dashes people pounds like water when he gets to naija, making other hardworking nigerians abroad look like selfish and stingy people. My fellow naija peeps, only a man like taiwo throws money around and buys car for everybody as he didnt work for it. 8 years is too small.Ole, oniranu.

in order for 419, kidnappings- and all the other chaotic things in naija- to cease, Nigeria itself has to change. it has starts with our government. people are looking for ways to feed their families, people are trying to prove to their families back home that they are making it abroad (when its not that easy) and start forming like Taiwo. but in his case, he was just being greedy. what is he going to do with that kind of money?anyway, most Nigerians committing crimes are somewhat forced into the life of crime because they are just searching for ways to get by. i know it sounds like a stupid excuse, but thats the truth.OUR "LEADERS" need to stop looting our money and put it into good use. creating jobs, fixing the roads, bringing constantly electricity (which i believe will have the most dramatic affect on Nigeria as a whole), and a better education system.and THEN I'm sure the total attitude and perception of the average Nigerian would change dramatically. Crime will go down, etc....too bad I can't vote. -_-

This is why I shred EVERYTHING, I use a sharpie to cross out my name on magazines, I use a cross cut shredder so the paper is like confetti, no thief can rejoin the papers with tape. Nobody is jacking up my already jacked up credit LOL LWKmDDDDDDd!!!

If na 9ja, big news. If na jew rob them, it won't even make the news, and if it does make the news, you won't have those rascist white media call the scammer "Jewish Scammer." Smh. God punish Oyinbo. All of them.

@hater, it actually is a fair enough excuse. if Nigeria was a developed nation, do you even think crime would be half of what it is now? not only that, but we don't have a trustworthy police force. you can always bribe them, and some of them, too, are into scams and other naughty behaviors.and don't give me that crap about "running for office" RUNNING FOR OFFICE IN NIGERIA? ARE YOU SERIOUS? there are no fair elections in Nigeria. our leaders are next to never elected into the positions they currently hold. we all know how corrupt the elections are. and even to run for any political office? just to run you always have to have "connections" and YES people do shady deals and get connections from who else? other corrupt politicians! THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS CORRUPT!!!!like I said, the change needs to come from our government first and foremost. and then everything shall fall into its rightful place.

I think alicia is a fool, there is no excuse for fraudulent practices. Stop blaming the Nigerian Government for all your problems, there are so many Nigerians doing well around the world by legitimate needs.